Harris Moran: Innovation emerging daily
California trials spotlight new varieties

Harris Moran unveiled its newest varieties recently during a five-day trial at its flagship research facility in Davis, California.

About 250 growers, dealers, and customers from around the globe converged on the 128-acre facility to see, touch, feel, squeeze, cut, and taste our latest offerings of melons, squash, fresh market tomatoes, processing tomatoes, sweet peppers and hot peppers.

“This year’s introduction of new products ranks as our best,” said Meir Peretz, product manager of cucurbits – melons, watermelons, and squash. “More varieties for more slots. More disease resistance. Better shelf-life and shippability. And most of all, more flavor.”

Squash breeder Ted Superak attracted attention with his wide variety of plantings, including 12 different types of squash, from zucchini to yellow crookneck to Middle Eastern type.

Emerging stars include Leopard, a medium green cylindrical squash with resistance to ZYMV and intermediate resistance to PRSV, and WMV. Wildcat too drew stares with its green, uniform color and solid disease package, including intermediate resistance to PRSV, Sf, WMV, and ZYMV. Felix, a medium dark green squash for the NAFTA and European markets, features intermediate resistance to PRSV, Sf, WMV, and ZYMV.

Also in attendance was Hurakan, a grey zucchini type and an industry leader in Mexico 

Melons also enticed customers with their yield, flesh-color, texture and taste. Under the guidance of breeder Bill Copes and Peretz, customers cut and tasted the sweet flesh of Western shippers, Eastern types, honeydews, specialty types, and mainstays like Oro Rico.

One of the upper and comers is Navigator, a cantaloupe with brilliant flesh color.  This widely adaptable 5-6.5-pound melon boasts excellent flesh color. It’s well-netted and yields mostly 9s and 12s. The fruit also features excellent retention of flesh firmness for fresh cut. The taste is good and sweet.

The West’s dominant cantaloupe, Oro Rico, was on display, as it is every season in fields throughout California and Arizona. We’re pleased to announce the growers’ choice has spawned an offspring, Mas Rico. This new melon offers the complete package: round fruit, nice netting, small cavity, dark flesh color, high brix, and a good resistance package. Size: mostly 9s and 12s.

In honeydews, Star Dew reigns supreme with its 12-15 brix, its extremely high concentrated yield, and its ideal size, 5-6.5-pounds for more marketable fruit. Cut it open and behold its intense green-colored flesh and firm flesh.

Watermelons -- of all types and all sizes – remain a Harris Moran specialty.

Names like Millionaire and Millenium are synonymous with successful triploids.

Gypsy’s on its way to enjoying such a reputation. Developed by breeder Brenda Lanini, it’s a 13-17-pound looker. It’s an early maturing variety with good seedlessness, broad adaptability, and a brilliantly colorful interior. It works well in the Eastern region.

Then there’s Vagabond, a 14-16.6- pound beauty with good seedlessness, tasty flesh, and dark red color.

Crunchy Red, another new triploid, combines flesh texture with fruit flavor. This blocky mid-season taste treat averages 14-16.5 pounds.

We’ve recently started a buzz with Side Kick, a new super pollenizer for triploid watermelons. Side Kick attracts bees with its high number of male flowers and extending flowering period. Plus the fruits smash easily so sprained ankles are kept to a minimum.

Visiters also surveyed our pepper trials. In all manner of peppers – from bells to Serranos to Jalapenos – breeders like Joseph Jacobs are creating vigorous plants with: food foliage, good yield, high fruit quality, thick walls, more earliness, wide adaptability, longer shelf-life, and some serious heat.

Take Villano, a new Jalapeno, with all the desired characteristics: shape, size, taste, color, and heat. It produces high yields of large, thick-walled, uniform peppers. The vigorous plant yields large fruit with dark green color and low corkiness.

Then there’s Camino Real, the dominant Serrano. This large Serrano is the highest yielding variety with the best adaptability and the best fruit. Fruit is hot, aromatic, and beautiful. Long shelf-life. Excellent sized fruit.

In bell peppers, Alliance is breaking new ground. This multiple disease resistant pepper develops square, three to four-lobed fruit, uniform and attractive. Very upright plant.

Patriot too is enjoying success. This medium pepper is very blocky, shaped by thick walls. It’s high yielding due to its excellent fruit set and plant cover. Strong disease package.

In tomatoes, breeders Mike Kuehn and James Brusca continue to roll out favored varieties.

Market leaders like Toro and El Cid still hold court in many NAFTA fields. And rookies like Apace and Shogun stand willing to prove themselves in fields. Apache yields large, uniform fruit with excellent shape and color maturation. Plant boasts good vigor and cover. Solid disease package. Shogun is a top-deck quality fruit with rectangular, elongated fruit with uniform color. Bears mostly x-large fruit with uniform size in all harvests from the bottom of plant to the top. Iron disease package. In processing tomatoes, HMX 0830 is emerging as a chosen variety.

June, 2005

Todd Collins is new Western Regional Sales Manager for HM

Harris Moran is pleased to announce that Todd Collins, HM's sales representative for Central California, has been promoted to Western Regional Sales Manager.

Beginning July 1, he will lead a sales force whose territory ranges from the Northwest, to California and Arizona, down to Texas, and everywhere in between

His goal: "To grow our business," Collins said. "I want to grow our business by helping our dealers and customers grow their business. We can do this by bringing the right varieties to their door."

He will focus on melons, watermelons, honeydews, fresh market tomatoes, lettuce, broccoli, and cauliflower.

Based in San Luis Obispo, California, he holds a BS in Agronomy from Cal Poly with a minor in Agribusiness. He joined Harris Moran in May of 2001. Prior to coming to Harris Moran, he held sales positions in several agricultural companies. He has been in the vegetable seed business six years.

Collins is a member of the California Agricultural Leadership Program. The group recently returned from a three-week visit of Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania where they toured growing areas, met farmers and rubbed shoulders with diplomats.

James Webb, Harris Moran's sales and marketing vice-president, said, "I am confident that with Todd's knowledge and energy we will together bring the western region to the next level."

Harris Moran Seed Company is part of the largest independently owned seed company in the world. It is owned by Groupe Limagrain, a cooperative owned, run, and operated by farmers.

Harris Moran breeds innovative vegetable varieties designed to boost yield, reduce chemical inputs, and increase freshness, flavor and fruit quality from plow to plate. The company breeds vegetables for markets in more than 65 countries.

New Central America sales manager for Harris Moran

Harris Moran Seed Company is pleased to announce the addition of Luz Karime Arroyave as its new regional sales manager for Central America and the Caribbean.

A native of Colombia, Arroyave comes to Harris Moran with nine years experience with Monsanto and Syngenta in chemical and vegetable seed sales.

“Her vast knowledge of the vegetable markets in Latin America
along with her professional sales approach should make Luz a
perfect fit for our international sales team,” said Khaled Kazzaz, director of international sales. “Central America presents many challenges. I know Luz is up to the task.”

Arroyave will be based in Cali, Colombia.

Harris Moran is part of the largest independently owned seed company in the world. It is owned by Groupe Limagrain, a cooperative owned, run, and operated by farmers.